Huawei officially announces the Mate S with Force Touch technology

We're live at the Huawei press conference at IFA 2015, where the Chinese firm has announced its latest flagship handset, the Mate S. With a design similar to last year's Mate 7, the Mate S introduces a sleeker design with a diamond-cut metal unibody and "2.5D" Gorilla Glass with curved edges. The phone packs a 5.5-inch 1080p display with 1.8M:1 contrast ratio. What's more, Huawei has beaten Apple to the punch by implementing Force Touch technology in the screen, allowing the phone to know how hard you're pressing on the glass.

Like the Mate 7, the Mate S packs a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometric authentication, which Huawei claims is 100 percent faster than the previous model. When it comes to colors, it'll be available in a new pink color in addition to gold, grey and silver options.

Around the back there's a 13-megapixel rear camera with OIS and a RGBW sensor, similar to what the company used in the P8 earlier this year. That's paired with a 8-megapixel front-facing camera. On the inside, there's an octa-core Kirin 935 processor running the show — the same chip found in the recent-launched Honor 7 — along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

There's also a 2,700mAh fixed battery — a step down from the enormous cell in the Mate 7, but Huawei CEO Richard Yu told press at today's event that the device will offer more than one day's batter life. On the software side, the Mate S purportedly has greater customization capabilities through the company's EMUI 3.1 software suite, based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.

The Huawei Mate S will be available to pre-order from September 15, with from Huawei's Vmall online marketplace to start with. The Standard version which comes with 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM will cost €649, while the Premium version has 64GB of storage and the same 3GB of RAM, and will run an extra €50, at €699. Huawei has stated that a 128GB version with Force Touch that will be coming later. We'll have full hands-on coverage of the Mate S soon, so stay tuned.

[BERLIN, Germany – September 2, 2015]: Today at Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin, the Huawei Consumer Business Group unveiled the Huawei Mate S smartphone, the new flagship product in Huawei's Mate series of mobile devices. Its ergonomic, luxurious design and innovative technology deliver a premium Android experience that surpasses industry expectations once again.

"Our goal in designing the Huawei Mate S was to develop a smartphone that offers a personalized experience, rather than a commoditized one," said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG. "The Huawei Mate S is based on insights we gathered about human interaction – most notably that touch is a natural action we take to understand our world. The Huawei Mate S redefines how we incorporate touch technology into our smartphones, breaking through the conventional way of touch screen control and ushering in new imagination for human-machine interaction."

The beauty of a curved surface: innovative design from inside out

The Huawei Mate S' touch screen control technology offers an unconventional design that strikes a balance between the phone's brilliant capabilities and its stunning visual appearance.

Building on the revolutionary Huawei Mate 7 smartphone, the Huawei Mate S features a 2.5D floating screen lens and a 5.5 inches screen. It is 7.2 millimeters thick, with side edges that are just 2.65 millimeters. The arched back fits perfectly into the palm of a hand, while its curved surface features solid pressure and weight, making the phone less likely to be dropped. With the AMOLED screen, Huawei Mate S presents a perfect curve.

The curved unibody of the Huawei Mate S encapsulates a laminated ladder battery and a staggered height printer circuit board layout design. Nanometer technology is being used to seamlessly connect the phone's antenna and metal, resulting in a smooth feel. Additional cutting-edge technology, including diamond cutting, CNC carving, nanotechnology and a camera with a sapphire lens are part of the phone's seamless metal body.

Revolutionary controls redefining user experience

Touch is a core of the Huawei Mate S, creating a new experience for users that enhances their interaction with the device.

The phone is equipped with Fingerprint 2.0, an upgraded version of the advanced chip level security and one-key unlock technology in the Huawei Mate 7. Fingerprint 2.0 improves recognition speeds by 100 percent, with more accurate self-learning functions. It can also be used to control the notification bar, double-click to erase unread notifications, slide to preview pictures, and hold and take phone calls. All of these options improve the one hand operation of the phone.

Knuckle Control 2.0 – first introduced in the Huawei P8 – simplifies how users switch between app operations and take screenshots. The feature offers users a new way to interact with their phone: drawing a "C" with their knuckle activates a camera, while double-clicking the screen with a knuckle records the screen in the form of a video. With these options, every type of touch provides an opportunity to be innovative.

The professional camera mode allows manual adjustment for ISO, exposure compensation, exposure time, white balance and focusing, and functions such as the grid, and flash-assisted focusing. The real time black and white filter mode provides multiple levels of density and real-time intensity adjustment.

Technology that adapts to every environment

The Huawei Mate S takes regular recording functions to the next level by creatively implanting three microphones that support Huawei's smart direction algorithm. The Huawei Mate S' beam-forming algorithm allows all three mics to focus on the sounds coming from where the phone is facing, enabling a clear recording with minimal background noises.

For consumers on the go, the Huawei Mate S also supports Mopria printing general protocol, which includes 700 printer types across 29 leading brands.

Today Huawei also introduced its new Huawei G8, which is equipped with a 5.5 inch FHD screen and 3000mAh battery compatible for super low-light photo taking.

Availability

Additional to other distribution channels, the HUAWEI Mate S will also be sold via the company's own online sales channel Vmall, starting in Western Europe. As of September 15, the phone will be available for pre-order at http://www.vmall.eu.

Reader comments

Huawei officially announces the Mate S with Force Touch technology

LOL! You can pre-order on 9/15. No actual release date... but they had to mention it now in an attempt to make people think they aren't copying Apple. How sad. I also notice that it comes in Rose Gold as well. Just a coincidence I bet.

Ugggh I am not looking forward to having to hear about "Force Touch" for the next 6 months. ANYTHING apple implements like this makes me sick to my stomach with all the buzz words and bullshit they throw around, and then I have to hear about it from the people around me. Just makes me want to puke!!!!

Yeah, I think it is because the rest of the specs are making such marginal increases that people will be able to keep the phones longer now. Manufacturers need to find a way to get people to upgrade at the same interval and having a small, sealed battery that wears out and no longer lasts a day is a big motivator to get people to upgrade.

We're at a point were not much room for improvement or innovation in mobile tech. Because of this it's not much motivation to buy new devices annually or even bi-annual So you may be right, ppl will have to replace phones every 2 yrs still, because sealed batteries die lol crazy.